Cleaning the Caveman Bridge

January 26th, 2014

Sunday is my morning for weeding classes at Schroeder Dog Park, at 9:00 AM this time of year.  There are no weeds blooming in the actual dog park, but there were some Creeping Charlie blooming in the 2” wide crack between the curb and pavement in the parking circle.  I didn’t realize how wide that opening was until I took a scoop shovel and attempted to clean up the accumulated humus and plants. 

But before I pulled out the shovel, I picked up litter in both pens.  There was very little trash beyond a very few butts, but there were a good half-dozen piles of dog waste and some holes dug.  It was nice that I had some dog waste bags from Greenwood Dog Park.  It helped that the piles were frozen as well.  I pulled out the wheelbarrow and flat shovel, scooped up some gravel from the front of the pen, and filled the holes.

On the way home, I stopped for a little while at the Redwood Avenue/Hwy intersection and picked up small amount of litter that had gathered in the inner triangle since the previous Sunday.  I also worked the other side of Redwood leading up to the light.  I had thought about continuing down the Avenue, but the amount and size of the trash I have seen along there scares me a bit.  I have to talk to the City about making a dumpster available for large bags of trash, so I can do that area.  One piece of car I picked up next to the intersection was 2 ½ feet long and 8 inches wide, which barely fit in the Courier parking lot trash can later on.

Besides, I had a hankering to clean up the Caveman Bridge and to keep working around the bridges and the South Y until I figure it’s clean enough.  So I parked in Hellgate’s parking lot and started down that side of the street.  I filled a bag between the bridge and its closest intersection, working both sides of the road.

The bridge looked like it has not been cleaned in years (could be one year), with composted debris built up in corners and growing chickweed, and a line of tree litter and gravel along the railing, with its load of small litter, mostly butts, of course.  The tree litter gets wide and deep as one gets to the south end, under the locust trees.  At least I got the people litter.  One never gets it all, and people are constantly adding to it.  But at least it only adds up; it doesn’t multiply like weeds do. 

I may get a wild hair one of these days, get out my wheelbarrow and a few other tools, and clean up the rest of the debris.  Maybe after I’m pretty sure we won’t be spreading more gravel on icy streets.

I next parked in the locked driveway at the disc golf course, and spent the rest of the day picking up between the bridge and the Park Street intersection on both sides of the road, taking bags of litter down to the trash can on the stairs that go under the bridge into Riverside Park.  Under the bridge is the most littered place in the area, far worse than Tussing Park, as vagrants constantly mark their territory. 

My rule is to pick up litter in the area of a trash can any time I use it, but not too long at a time when the area is out of sight and extremely littered.  I spend about 5 minutes at a time in such a place.  But it is the only handy trash can near the bridge, and I will be visiting it fairly often.  I like to keep an area that I have worked in clean, once I clean it.  I at least got the area in the immediate area of the trash can clean, and the stairs from both sides of the road, with a some pickup between.

Near the end of the day, I parked near the West Park intersection, where someone had broken a beer bottle that needed sweeping, and the empty lot at the corner needed picking up.  From there, it was a bit far to the trash can under the bridge, so I took the rest of my trash to the Courier parking lot and the 6^th and G public lot, picking up most of both lots, though admittedly not covering every part.  But I will continue from West Park today, and finish those parking lots at the end of the day.

On my way back, I saw a broken bottle in the closed drive-in between 6th and 7th, where I had cleaned up the week before.  I'll pick that up tomorrow, too.